Winter 1811 - A Flag of Forgotten Nations

Billy gestured us to stillness.

We held our tongues and our breaths. The only sound was the gentle lapping of the sea against the dinghy. The surrounding fog hid us from the enemy but it also hid them from us.

Autumn 1810 - The Sea Gives Up Its Dead

We smelled the thing long before we saw it. It gave up a stench that burned the nose and churned the guts. How the gulls came near it I do not know. That they could eat of it suggested madness. That eating of it deranged them only confirmed it. 

Summer 1810 - A Bloody Cotillion

It was not difficult to determine from the creature had come. Her footprints were larger than Aunt Annie's and she left a clearer trail of mayhem than even a very drunk Annie would have managed. 

Summer 1810 - Hunting the Blacktongue

Uncle Billy grimaced. "Cortez said the beast had a lair beneath that oak," he said, pointing to the sunken tree. 

Father frowned. "Unless we are to wait for it to be hungry again, one of us will need to go down and poke it."

Summer 1810 - Bull Tanner Makes a Mistake

"My father did not lay your brother down," I said, "I gave him what he deserved."

The river bully sneered. "Is Red such a coward he hides behind little girls?"

I picked up my hammer. "Are you so deaf you can't understand what I tell you?"

Summer 1810 - A Favor for Honest Boris

Boris arrived, as usual, soon after sundown. Unusually, he had no smile for me. "Child, I need your father," he said. "There are worse things than me abroad this night."

Spring 1810 - A Bedtime Tale from Norse Billy

"Please, Uncle Billy? Just one story?" Magnolia pleaded. 

Norse Billy lit his pipe. "About your father? When we sailed under the black flag?"

"We won't tell Mother," I promised.